Why millions of Americans — including me — own the AR-15
The AR-15 is less a model of rifle than it is an open-source, modular weapons platform that can be customized for a whole range of applications, from varmint control to taking out 500-pound feral hogs to urban combat. Everything about an individual AR-15 can be changed with aftermarket parts — the caliber of ammunition, recoil, range, weight, length, hold and grip, and on and on.
http://www.vox.com/2016/6/20/11975850/ar-15-owner-orlando
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...less injured or less dead due to that responsibility.
There's crime prevention and control at its best. 
I'm not suggesting that everyone's safety depends on a weapon. I quote #27 from the (unofficial) USMC Rules for Gun Fighting: "Your number one Option for Personal Security is a lifelong commitment to avoidance, deterrence, and de-escalation."
Having said those things, banning and onerous regulations will only encourage further crime in a country where privately owned guns are as common as privately owned cars.
AKs (full-auto weapons), explosives and flame throwers (and numerous other weapons) are already only legal for private citizens after a long investigation and approval process by the ATF. The last crime involving a full-auto was the North Hollywood shootout at Bank of America in 1997. An AR-15 is no more lethal than any other semi-auto of the same caliber.
Hold back on gunslingers/thrilled by death folks by all means. Determine who those folks are according to due process in the courts not by what color they like their rifle.
What do you mean by "step into the way of arms dealers profits"?
Re: "...right to blow holes in everything..." amendment; there isn't one. Hyperbole I infer. 
settle down. I don't want to be shot. Do you?
...legislators in Hawaii are demanding gun owners be registered.
Yay, team.
Response to leveymg (Reply #2)
However, and IMNSHO, the RKBA is a human right, everywhere. Government permission is not required. It is as natural and innate as a right to life. Whatever tools one chooses as a means of self-defense are covered in that right. Anyone or any group or government that chooses to pretend otherwise is free to be wrong. Rights don't disappear because a person, group or government fails to respect them.
Just a pet peeve.
I know for a fact, as a military historian that the mauser rifle, and its many derivatives has killed many MANY times more human beings...
I even have one.. {not mine}
And no proposed legislation even mentions them.. And it is a REAL, GENUINE, fully functional "weapon of war". unlike what our current crop of leaders think.
Like this?
The round it fires is larger and more destructive than the 5.56/.223 of the AR. It only holds eight rounds, but can be reloaded with stripper clips as quickly as magazines can be changed on an AR.
I don't know what you and others mean by "on American streets." I have never seen anyone carrying on AR on the street. They are in people's homes, on shooting ranges, and in the hunting field. I have seen video of open-carry activist yahoos parading around with them to get attention, but that's rare.
The .30-06 Springfield cartridge (pronounced "thirty-aught-six" or "thirty-oh-six", 7.62×63mm in metric notation and called ".30 Gov't '06" by Winchester, was introduced to the United States Army in 1906 and later standardized; it remained in use until the early 1980s.
From what I understand, that round made quite an impression on lots of Germans, Japanese, Koreans, and Chinese..
Response to Zen Democrat (Reply #10)
Your ex probably used basically the same rifle used in both world wars. As for the .30-06 not being designed as a "people killer", as others have mentioned, a lot of Japanese, German, North Korean, and Chinese soldiers would disagree with that. BTW, so would some Kent State students. The biggest obsticle to a dialog between the two sides is that one side doesn't know what it is talking about.
Response to gejohnston (Reply #31)
Last edited Fri Jun 24, 2016, 03:32 PM - Edit history (1)
That was a very informative article. Bookmarked for reference.
How were the guns used in mass shootings configured? Could those same configurations be used for practical purposes like taking down hogs? Is it possible to ban certain configurations that are optimized for inflicting mass casualties?
This is a very difficult painful topic. On one hand, I respect the right of gun ownership. But when's a gun too much gun?
Buckshot out of a 12 or 20 gauge shotgun is extremely effective at close range....say, 40 yards or less. Birdshot is a terrible choice for self defense.
I can provide link after link demonstrating birdshot's lack of penetration if need be.
I am sure they will be more than willing to protect you.
That way you can dispose of your evil firearms and wash the blood from your hands.
Just in case I need it again.
I guess you can accuse me of being old-fashioned...pump shotguns and wheelguns uber alles! 
A: Hunters that fired .223.
Interesting rifle. Ten shot magazine which, while technically detachable, was only supposed to be removed for cleaning. It was normally reloaded via stripper clips.
My other Swedish rifle is a sporterized Model 96. While as a collector I normally despise sporterization, this one caught me eye at a gun show. It's been cut down to resemble an 1894 Carbine, with a Mannlicher-style stock and an adjustable trigger. It was priced to sell, so I grabbed it on impulse.
Move over, .460 Weatherby Magnum. There's a new sheriff in town!
I sold it after Sandy Hook for more than I paid for it.
I bought another one about 3 months ago, it was a partial assembly required (stripped lower and assembled upper). It's strictly a range gun - I haven't shot a living creature for more than 30 years, and I have no intention of ever doing it again.
There are several things I really like about this weapon:
1. It is an inherently simple design - an amateur DIY'er like me can tear down and re-assemble it very easily.
2. There's a huge market of aftermarket parts, and customizing it is very easy. (Which in itself is extremely appealing to my inner tinkerer...)
3. It's a lot of fun to shoot, and not too bad as far as accuracy.
And, though I know it's childish, the mere fact that I have one is bound to piss someone off, somewhere...
...one who fails to defend, explain or clarify their opinions...
...or even respond at all...
...
...even on an anonymous internet message board.
We see an awful lot of that........particularly from certain drive-by members.